Mark Twain famously said, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Those reports had nothing on the whoppers published in regards to me as I run for County Commissioner: “Insurrectionist!” “Extremist!” “Armed goons!” “Racist!” “Nazi!” “Fascist!” “Conspiracy theorist!” “Istaphobic Phobophobe!”

Link: Letter: Can't we get along? | Letters | theworldlink.com

If these outlandish lies and profound ignorance were actually true, my loved ones would all have abandoned me, as they are all loving, decent, honorable and principled people – just like I was raised to be.

I did attend the August “gay pride” event at Boynton Park for around 20 minutes, where my wife and I arrived alone and unarmed, contrary to libelous claims otherwise. We had kind-hearted greetings with a number of people there, and did converse for a few minutes with a young man from the Coos County Democrat party; it was an entirely open and honest discussion, friendly and pleasant. There were no confrontations or challenges. Nobody made any discernible moves to get us to leave. This is all contrary to slander written by Israel Jurich and published in this newspaper. Israel has never met me. If he had, he’d be unable to lie about me, because he’d know I’m not the monster he portrays me to be. I have never advocated for violence, nor knowingly associated with anyone who has; I reject it categorically. Every person has equal value in God’s eyes – He made us all. Israel seems confused, thinking Christians like me are a threat. We were not the ones torching cities over the past two years: those were Israel’s presumed compatriots in BLM and Antifa.

The truth is that the self-proclaimed purveyors of “tolerance” are the same ones who, when I propose dispassionate debate on the left’s sacred cow ideological topics, generally are seen baring teeth and hissing “I don’t talk to fascists!”

These people can’t even correctly define “fascist,” but their behavior exemplifies it.

Our society desperately needs more unity, and unity derives from shared values which can only be determined through dialog – which always suffers in the face of promulgated untruths. Can’t we all just get along?

Rod Taylor

Bandon

Link to the article in The World Newspaper maligning a commissioner candidate:

Letter: Rod Taylor Puts Us at Risk | Letters | theworldlink.com

An Excerpt:

I worked as a security person at Coos Bay’s Pride Festival, a small family event that attracted around 250 local families for LGBTQ-friendly fun, activities, food, and access to helpful services. I know several people who chose not to attend because they were afraid of far-right extremists attacking the festival. Their fears were not entirely unfounded, because Rod Taylor, a far-right extremist, Christian nationalist, and conspiracy theorist showed up with several armed goons, filming the families there without permission and intimidating them. Our security team responded and worked to safely remove them, with Rod himself getting easily side-tracked by one of our team who got him talking about election conspiracies. They eventually left, but the message sent was clear: Rod Taylor does not and will not represent the interests and needs of all of Coos Bay residents.